CityView Magazine

40 | January/February 2015 BY RACHEL BRUNE giving W e've barely been intro- duced when Beth Car- penter, co-founder of lo- cal charity Scarf It Up, pulls out a large black backpack. She unbuckles the straps and shakes out a long mat that looks like it has been crocheted out of plastic. is is a sleeping mat intended for a member of Fayette- ville's homeless community and it has indeed been hand- cra ed from about 300 to 310 plastic shopping bags. e thickness and the plastic are intended to keep the moisture away from someone sleeping out in the elements. Carpenter admitted that preparing the bags for the job and crocheting them together is not exciting. In fact, "...it is the most boring thing." However, in a city whose homeless popu- How a local charity warms hearts in the winter months and year round lation, including homeless families, far exceeds the shelter capacity, such a mat provides someone with a little extra help. "We help because there's a need," said Carpenter, a North Carolina native who grew up in Fayetteville. Inside each backpack, additional helpful items include a rain poncho, fl eece blanket, toiletries and of course, hat, gloves and scarf as the winter weather sends outside tempera- tures plummeting. More Than Scarves Scarf It Up provides "way more than scarves," said Lisa Hunter, Carpenter's counterpart: a Virginia native and for- mer Army staff sergeant who was stationed at Fort Bragg as an automated logistical specialist. Hunter and Carpenter, now both real estate agents, spoke of driving around Fayetteville, becoming aware of the home- IT UP Scarf Photography by Brandon Noel Scarf It Up kids show off their backpacks fi lled with necessities

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